New Name. New Country. #VunkAlumni16

2017 begun for team Partcosting (before CADirect) differently than '16 ended. Firstly, they rebranded and secondly, part of the team lives now in Manchester to take on accelerator Ignite challenges. We wondered, they answered.

You have re-branded CADirect just before leaving Estonia, why?

Leaving Estonia was not necessarily the reason for our rebranding, however getting everything sorted before was quite important. A few reasons we have chosen to rebrand are similar names already in the industry, .com availability, but most importantly our new name: Partscosting, immediately tells our target audience what we do. It was hard leaving CADirect behind as we had grown to love it but we had checked with our market to ensure our rebranding was viable and had made the choice to rebrand.

How did the re-branding in startup look a like? Usually in a corp. it’s a 1-2 year process.

The later you rebrand the harder it is. The obvious hard process includes the change in name, logo, and any other immediately visible descriptions a client may see. But after the new brand has been developed then comes the most tedious work: redoing SEO, changing and updating email addresses, new business cards, company registrations, updating all other print materials and much much more. The process took about 2-3 weeks: from the time we thought about rebranding to get most of our information updated, time that could be spent elsewhere. If you think you will need to rebrand do it as early as possible!

So from Monday you are relocated to Manchester to be part of Accelerator Ignite. How do you determine if an accelerator is worth it?

Choosing an accelerator these days is a difficult one because new accelerators are popping up monthly. Our decision was based on: the accelerator being in a regional target market for us; the accelerators network; any similar ideas or companies that have successfully gone through the accelerator; and of course talking to experienced persons who know about the accelerator. Big thanks to Calum Cameron, and other startups who have gone through the accelerator. In the end the accelerator can be a huge waste of time if you don’t make the best of it. Don’t waste your time.

Your biggest expectations for 13 weeks?

We don’t necessarily have any expectations coming from the accelerator, its up to us to take charge, get situated in a new market and then take over the new market.

Your next steps in first 2 weeks?

I am sure the first week will be filled with nonsense administrative work and just overall getting accustomed to the new environment and program. However as it's a new market we need traction. A lot of sales and contact with potential clients within the first weeks.

Why should start-ups from all over Europe apply to VUNK Autumn Programme in Estonia?

This spring a Portuguese start-up Helppier applied to VUNK collaboration programme. In short Helppier is a walkthrough service to create interactive tutorials and tooltips in seconds. Here is their Customer Happiness Manager's Ricardo Pereira's take on co-operation with VUNK & Telia.

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